Nonsensical Ramblings of Mark

There are a few things that I have known to be true that have not translated into concrete action: God's gift of Christ was personal, need meeting (for us), and costly (for Him) Time is the currency of the 21st century I need to imitate God in every area of my life The gifts I give should reflect His nature and reflect the great gift of His Son All that being said it is easy for me to see where I have missed it. It is very easy for me to give things rather than giving myself. It is easy for me not to invest time in things that are truly important. That being said I have decided that I am going to give some coupons to my boys this year for Christmas. Each one of them is going to get a set so that we can spend some alone time with each other, but they will be able to combine them if they want to. Only two of them (out of six) require spending any money, but I think they will like what I have put together. So, shhh - don't tell them but here they are: Movie Night in the basement (

While we were waiting for my youngest son to come down the stairs from brushing his teeth hilarity ensued: [Unidentified noise from upstairs] Nan: "Drew? Are you okay?" Drew: "Yes, why?" Nan: "It sounds like you have a bad cough..." Drew: "Oh. No." Nan: "Well, what was that noise?" Drew: "Oh. That was my power spitting." Mark: [under his breath] "Lovely." Nan: [face palm] Yeah...it's never boring.

I am not naive enough (I kind of wish I was) to think that people are doing anything less than mocking Tim Tebow's expression of his faith in the "Tebowing" craze that is happening now. One of the explanations that I heard from a reporter of this phenomenon was (and I am paraphrasing): "Tebowing is the act of taking a kneeling position regardless of what is happening around you." That is a great explanation on a variety of levels, but it sobers me. I always "Tebow" to something or someone. Always. In fact, there is never a minute in my life that I am not "Tebowing". I would like to think that I, exclusively, Tebow to God. That would be the best wouldn't it? That God would be a part of my life to such and extent that my wife and children would be fully and completely loved, my service with His church would be reverently pure, and my work record would be spotless. I would love to think that people would be able to look at my life, my Tebowi

Hilarity ensued as I left for work this morning:   Mark: [to the boys] "Well, I will see you jamokeses later." Drew: "Jamokeses?" Will: "Daddy, you should call us 'pisans'."   [Uproarious laughter]   Mark: "Um, you guys are much closer to 'O'Malleys' than you are to that."   Yeah...it's never dull.

I hear it all the time and even think it more often than I should: "The weekend was too short"..."My vacation was too short"..."There is not enough time before Christmas"..."The season is too short for all that I need to get done"....and on and on. The fact of the matter is that there is always enough time. Always. I know that I don't always believe that, but to think that God has, somehow, shortchanged me in the amount of time that He has given me to accomplish His will for my life just doesn't compute. To think that He has lavished such grace on me to pay the price for my sinfulness and then not think that the same grace is operating in my life in the length of days that He has given me to accomplish what He has given me to do is irrational at best. And then there is the dissatisfaction I have with Monday, and Tuesday...and every evening except Friday and Saturday. To think that where He has me at this point in time is something that I

I was vacuuming leaves out of the pachysandra the other day thinking about my children and how they are the incarnation (or enfleshment) of the love that my wife and I share. I have written about this before but I had another thought cross my mind. I remember great pain, in my youth, when I thought that my mom and dad did not love each other anymore. It is so obvious to me, now, that they did and still do. Yet in my inexperience and sheer emotionalism I recall certain times when I thought that their love was through. That it was going to be over. That was not something that I would want anyone to feel or to go through and I think I am gaining a better understanding of why that is. Because our children are creatures of love (as the Talking Heads put it) my love for their mother is really the core, or the fabric, of their very existence. In some way, without intellectualizing it, my children know that the love that my wife and I share together, and us acting on that love, produced them a

Early on in my Christian walk someone gave me some advice that has stuck with me. They told me to make sure that I hang out with people that like being married. They wanted that to be such a part of my life that I would shrink back from people who were always complaining about their spouses...even the ones that prefaced their comments with "Don't get me wrong. I love my wife, but..." It is so great to hear people talking about their spouses in ways that almost seem unbelievable. Yes, there are pollyanna people out their (I am one of them) but I know the ones that are so desperately in love with their spouses that they are broken about being unkind to them or neglecting even a modicum of their responsibilities towards them. It is not an obsession, but a level-headed acknowledgement of the gift that they have received from God Himself. I have since extended that piece of advice to people who love, I mean really love, their children. These are not people who gush over their

This may come as a shock, but, I am not all that bold when it comes to sharing anything about my faith or God in general with people outside of a structured "faith-sharing" session. I just haven't gotten into the habit of steering the conversation (when it make sense) to my faith in Jesus or even dropping the fact that I am a believer and do believer-ee things. We had been challenged a bit ago in a church service to be bold - to really pray for and look for opportunities to share our faith in everyday circumstances. We also talked a bit in small group about just looking for small opportunities to let people know we are believers and strike up small conversations about it. Well, this was one of those days. While I was getting my teeth x-rayed (yes, Virginia, they found a small cavity) at the dentist I had the hygienist ask me a rather innocuous question about whether the boys had a hard time getting up for school this morning because of the time change. Now I had been pray

I can imagine that it used to be quite different. The love that the Father, Son, and Spirit had for one another and the love shared between God and the, as yet, unfallen man and woman was on quite a different basis than we find today. In the Godhead itself there is no concept of debt and forgiveness as each One performs Their roles to the complete satisfaction of the Others. Without the disobedience of the pinnacle His creation there was no hint of mercy for there was no need of it. Adam and Eve were, graciously, given good gifts but did there was no wrath (anger against sin) to withhold from them. What a world that must have been. But now what of the love that was back then? I may be making too much of this, but it seems to me that, with all of the frailty and sin that is part of who I am, I dare say that I cannot even begin to understand love without the foundation of forgiveness. I cannot fully love without being forgiven and comprehending how deep the debt was that has been removed

Yes. That is a hard question for me. What about now? What have I done in the last week, what evidence do I have, that I am different? Too often I find myself reaching back into the distant (and too distant) past for evidence that I am not the man I was. I think of this time in college or that time early in my marriage when there was a wholesale change in my life as if the last 10 years, 10 months, or 10 weeks really didn't matter at all. I can wax eloquently about how I need to change but when it gets right down to it, where is it? What is the change that I can point to and that people in my small group can recognize in me? Why aren't the discerning brothers and sisters in my life saying, "You know, you used to [be this way]...now there is something so different [in the way you are in regards to that]."? Has my devotion grown more fervent? Is my speech much sweeter? Is my love more profound? Do I confess and forsake sin more readily? Is there anything that I understan

If I hate His Word then what will mold me? If I hate prayer then who will I confide in? If I hate good then what will I become? If I love evil then what will rescue me? If not His strength then where will my confidence lie? If not His firm foundation then what? If not Him then who?

"I've been thinking of you". These are the types of cards that I like to give and get. To think that someone would dedicate any amount of their brain to thoughts of me is comforting on a variety of levels. Now, I may be making too much of this, but there is something quite different, in my mind, about thinking "of" someone when compared to thinking "about" someone. If I see an apple I think about my wife. She grew up around people who grew apples for a living and she has taught me everything that I know today about apples. Like never eat a Granny Smith or you can tell that it is a Macintosh because the flesh is a little softer than most apples. So apples cause me to think about Nan. Now, altogether different is thinking "of" her when, for example, I know that she is going to be going through something difficult or particularly pleasant at such and such a time. That causes me to pray, or rejoice, or try to enter into her happiness or sorrow as

While I was worshiping with the church on Sunday a picture flashed into my mind that connected my life with God in a way that I hadn't thought of before. One of my favorite pictures that has been taken on me (I sound a bit full of myself here don't I?) is one where I am with a "then" preschool boy and we have just employed a ramp that we had just constructed to launch a matchbox car into the air. We are looking at each other, mouths wide open, in total amazement at how well the ramp worked. As I recall the picture we, literally, have the same expressions on our faces as we revel in what the car had done. I think my joy was more in the connection that I had made to this boy and the laughing and smiling that we could do together as we built some semblance of a relationship around the common experience we were having. Both he and I were absolutely loving it and from, maybe, only slightly different angles. As that picture played in my mind I wondered. I wondered how many

Joy (and happiness for that matter) is completed when it is expressed. When something good happens, or even when I am given a godly perspective in the midst of great pain, I have a burning desire to share it with those that I love and even God Himself. It just seems so silly to tell God about what just happened or how I am relying on Him in the midst of great trial as if I am clueing Him into something that He doesn't, already, know. But He puts up with it doesn't He? He even desires it because He desires my good. He knows that it is good for me to complete my joy (and even my happiness) through expressing that back to Him. That is one of the reasons why it is so good for me to worship my God by reflecting back to Him all that He is to me. As I articulate the joy I feel as a result of who He is my greatest good is achieved. My joy goes all the way down and it sinks deep into the earth as a most suitable foundation. I was, recently, on a business trip with a woman who was comple

I have to admit that this is a tough issue for me. I traveled by airplane from Rochester to Atlanta on a direct flight on the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on this country on 9-11-01. Thankfully I was with the church that morning and even got to teach the preschoolers and kindergartners in our HighPoint children's ministry. IN other words, there was plenty to distract me concerning the events that transpired a while back and the bit of fear I had in my heart concerning my travels on that day. There is no excuse for the distraction that I leaned on to quiet my heart. I guess I am still a man and still need a savior. At the gate at the airport I looked around to see who I would be traveling with. They were all white like me. Even the people who were not white were white enough that I felt comfortable traveling with them and my heart sunk into a more profound peace and rest. I knew that I would be arriving safely at my destination. But I didn't really know...did I? Th

We have a kitchen here in my building which is the source of no small amount of hilarity. We have a water dispenser in our refrigerator that I use to fill up a water bottle when I retrieve my lunch so that I can lay off of the soda. I have a tendency to turn sharply around corners in and out of rooms while I pretend in my head that I am being chased by Lex Luthor's minions. OK that part isn't true but the rest is. So, cutting the corner a bit sharply this day I ran into someone. The force of the collision caused me to spill no small portion of the contents of my water bottle onto the upper half of this person's shirt. I knew her very well and quickly apologized, but at the same time I noticed that the fabric that made up the shirt was very water-repellant. It was doing its job particularly well that day and there were at least 50 beads of water that were dancing like little diamonds at a debutante ball. Ok, so, what do I do? I just baptized one of my co-workers (against her

If I am other-centered I will give and receive with humility and grace. I have always known that to be true but I had never thought of why that is the case. I am trying to wrap my mind around this so please bear with me. If I am graceful I will be continually reaching out to people in need in a way that is truly helpful. There is a self-serving way of offering assistance and I have been both the giver and the receiver of that, but I will not go into this here. Now, if I am self-focused I will be so absorbed in myself that I will not reach out to offer any assistance to anyone. When I flip this around I see another dynamic where I would be so self-focused that I would shrink from the acceptance of an offer help from anyone. It is both humility and grace to accept the gift that I do not deserve as much as it is grace to give to someone what they need. So when my ego gets in the way not only do I not reach out to others but I refuse help from them as well. This is good to know because now

I had a chance to preach at the Monroe County Jail last night and my message was centered around the concept of idols of the heart that is found in Ezekiel 14:1-8. On my way home from the service I got to thinking about idols in general. This may be a bit inarticulate (ok, what isn't from me) and not that well-developed (ibid) but as I thought I  something came to me: money, or anything else for that matter, is not an idol. Now I can stand to be corrected on this one but there is a reason that I am thinking along this line. When I fashion a god out of something, and I do because my heart is an idol factory, I am doing it because I am proud. I am attempting to depose God from His rightful place as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer and place an object or person on that throne that is not a god. Money doesn't do that. My family doesn't do that. I do that. So where is my trust? It is not in money at all. In fact, it is in my ability to both choose and create a god So, where is t

So can't ya see me standing here I got my back against the record machine I ain't the worst that you've seen Ah, can't you see what I mean? - Jump, Van Halen Yes - I wasn't the worst that she had seen. And, thankfully, and for some reason, her "You'll do..." was given back to me as "I do." And for that I will forever be grateful. And more than a little stupefied.

I was ironing my pants this morning (no they were not on my body) thinking about the three times I need to teach on Sunday (twice with the church and once at the Monroe County Jail) and I had a strange thought. I asked myself how much more effective I would be as a teacher if I prayed, much more than I do, about my messages and the people I will be teaching. Now, apart from the fact that this is a "duh" question it was quickly followed by a rebuke that I was thinking more about my effectiveness as a teacher rather than my love for God and neighbor. Basically, I was thinking about using prayer as a means to better myself as a teacher rather than one part of my communion with God. Then, almost as quickly, another thought came to mind. How many times to I use God as a means rather than the end? It is easy for me to see God as a way to respect, a good life, obedient children, and a hundred lesser things rather than the only person I would want with me if I was stranded on a deser

I was listening to a lecture yesterday on my iPod and I heard a statement that I hear a lot and it got me to thinking. The lecturer was lamenting that it is hard for people to turn to God when everything is all right, but easier when there is a crisis. Now I know that this has (is) operated (operating) in my own life, but I started to wonder if anything is ever all right. Are all my family and friends saved and going to heaven? Am I making the absolute best use of God's money and the time He has given me? Are my responsibilities being fulfilled to the absolute best of my ability? Am I working out my salvation with fear and trembling? Is my thought life absolutely pure? Is my marriage as strong as it can be? Are my children as holy as they can be? Is my teaching as spot on and compelling as it could be? And the list goes on. It seems to me that there is always a ton to pray about and that it is only my limited perspective and attention span that does not have me praying my heart out

Yes, I have a favorite definition of incarnation and that would be enfleshment. I have written about pursuing first things and getting all that proceed from them thrown in as well as opposed to pursuing second things and losing both them and the first things. I have also written about my children being an incarnation , an enfleshment, of the love that my wife and I have for one another. Now, I see a connection between the two that I had not seen before. If I pursue my wife with all my heart and love her the way God wants me to I will, naturally, love the people and even the things that she loves. Now, this can mean anything from her feeling good about finding a bargain at the grocery store or respecting a time table that she has set for getting some projects done or leaving the house. That is just natural. How much more would I love my children if I truly set all of my love and affection onto my wife? Not only does she love my boys very much (more than a bit understated) but they are

I am working on viewing my world, my life, more like a hospital than a resort. Now I can't say that I have ever been on a resort vacation (or even a cruise for that matter) but I understand that they are very nice. Very nice indeed. So nice in fact that if something is out of place it gets taken care of. And once it does one can go back to resorting (is that a verb?). I have a tendency to treat life that way. If something is out of place I have a tendency to want it to be taken care of so I can go back to life. I want it removed so that I can live my life the way I think it ought to be lived: from my magic barcalounger of remote control. There my travelogue can be completed on screen while being fully liked and profusely commented. Look at my photo album of my stay under the stars - they were happy to see me and I was loved there! But something is desperately wrong with me. Something so dark and sinister that I dare not leave the gurney that He has lifted me onto. I can barely walk

Arriving at the truth via the dialectical method (thesis, antithesis, and synthesis) is not an entirely bad way of doing things. This is especially true when the parties in the discussion are not absolutely committed to the positions that they are holding. One of the assumptions that is often engrained in the method is that the synthesis is superior to both the thesis and the antithesis. At some level (maybe a social/relational one) the synthesis is, far more often than not, superior as the new position is held by both parties and they can trot off, hand in hand, in mutual understanding and regard for one another. But, there is a danger in this assumption as it can lead to chronological snobbery. There are many people that will assume that if a thought, idea, or explanation of reality is newer it is, by fact of being newer, superior to anything (or most things) that preceded it. This is often implicit in people rejecting the Bible, for example, because it is so old. They know that ther

On my way home from Louisville last night I was listening to a podcast from Ravi Zacharias and I realized something. I realized that when I pray with my boys I always address God as "God" and never as "Father". Now, obviously, as a sentient creature addressing my Creator there is a certain, and very intimate, relationship that I am communicating as I address Him that way. What could be more amazing than recognizing that God knows every thought, sinew, and cell in my being better than I or any scientist could? Yet, God, it seems, wants me to go even further still. He doesn't want to me to think of Him merely as my Maker. He wants me to realize that I am His son and that it is an all-together different relationship than the Creator-creature one. That is one that I can grab a hold of much more readily as I think of the godly example that my own father set for me and how he consistently shows me how to love through loving me. Maybe that is one that my sons would lik

I have written before about viewing death as the friend that he is to me. Since then I have been struggling a bit with "visiting" him in the ultimate sense. I know that I am called to put to death the deeds of the flesh and to die to myself. These things seem like correspondence (whether by email or even IM) with my friend rather than the flow-blown visit that I will have with him when God tells me that my time here is up. But the obvious question (at least to me) is this: If he is such a good friend, what is holding me back from that visit? Why not knock on his door and embrace him the way friends embrace: fully and completely? In thinking about this a bit more I got to thinking about an imaginary friend (erm, not that kind) in a far-off country like, say, India. No matter how good this friend is to me visiting him in India would require resource expenditures and commitments from me that would be irresponsible at this point in my life. There would be a time to visit him, but

We sent our son (the one who acts like me) to bed last night without any dinner. We really had no choice in the matter and I know it was the right thing to do given the issue we were dealing with. Yet I couldn't help but miss him at the dinner table. It diminished my time there and my oldest son, upon being put to bed, was worried that he would not be going to Seabreeze with us tomorrow. Mind you, I didn't miss the behavior that landed him in his room. I would have to be more than a fool to long for that. But here I was in the midst of his self-imposed exile to his room for the night missing him . My love for him sent him to his room. That same love for him wanted him in his chair to my right. I have often remarked and written of the fact that I am more in touch with the emotional side of God's great love for me now that I am a parent. The passages in the Bible that deal with parent/child relationships have a real depth to them that they never had now that I am a father. I

There is not much in my life that is more thrilling to me than asking questions of people on topics that I know nothing about nor have any preconceived notions around. We were with friends last night and I found myself at a table with a farmer. Now I had heard that this has been a particularly challenging year for farmers with the wet Spring and excessively dry Summer so I asked a question to either reinforce what I had heard or to soften it. His answer lent the former view more credance so I received what I was after. That was not what I would call a pure question as I had a motive for my asking it. I can also say that asking questions in order to get to know the person... Bugh. Did you ever start something that you thought was a good idea but got so bored that you couldn't bear to finish it? That is what it feels like with this post. I could chalk it up to lack of discipline or sleep, but I think that would be overstating the issue. I have aabout a billion more things that I woul

Spring and Summer, for some reason, always catapults me back to my younger years and ushers in bouts of reminiscence and a lesser amount of introspection. These activities have been muted somewhat in recent years but they are still there. There are certain songs from my younger days that seem to bring back old hurts and pain that I encountered and, at least I thought, adequately dealt with: It's My Life - Talk Talk How Soon is Now - The Smiths The Verdict - Joe Jackson Down By the Sea - Men At Work Burning Flame - Vitamin Z Given the pervasiveness of Youtube and the ebb and flow of 80's music that I run into I find myself, on occasion, hearing and playing these songs. The feelings are more muted but they are still there. I can trace some of the feelings back to certain instances in my life...things said and left unsaid...that left me wondering about this and that. There are others that are there and, well, they are just there with no real connection to someone or something. Tha

There are a couple of things that are operating in my life, and in the world, that prompt me to ask "How can I die today?". The first is that I need to die in order to truly live. The second is that I, as strong, must descend to serve the weak or, more palatably put perhaps, the ones in need. The Bible infuses my physical death with meaning as it will end my rebellion and usher in a new life that I have only heard about and rarely, if ever, received a foretaste of. But I find that, while living, when I die to myself in taking up my cross daily and relinquish my rights, there is a life on the other side of that death that is truly life. Those are the times when my heart is full and my soul is at rest and full of peace. Those are the times when (as Chris Rice puts it) I can almost hear the angel's wings and I can feel His good pleasure. Those are the tears of joy I shed. Snatching my rights back again in an attempt to fuel my own resurrection finds me looking over a wrecked

I was scheduled to preach at the Monroe County Jail last night and, thanks to a kind friend who stepped in for me, I was able to shed that responsibility to go with family and friends to the Red Wings game last night. The game was not unusually long but thankfully it started at 6:05 p.m. rather than 7:05 p.m. so that we could also take in the RPO concert, fireworks, and let the boys run the bases after all of that frivolity was completed. After it was all said and done we were actually home by 11:00 p.m. and we had an excellent time. When we were younger I fondly recalled the times I spent with my dad and brothers and sisters taking in the games at Silver Stadium. I loved going to the ballpark and am so happy that our family gets to attend games at a stadium that is so much nicer and easier to access than Silver was when I was younger. I told my boys that we generally sat along the third base line when we were growing up, but our traditional spot will be sitting along the first base li

So wrap our injured flesh around You Breathe our air and walk our sod Rob our sin and make us holy Perfect Son of God Welcome to our world  - Welcome to Our World, Chris Rice This idea is not a fully-baked as I would like it to be. I really like Chris Rice and his writing and musical style suit me quite well. I still think his song  Deep Enough to Dream is one of the best songs I have ever heard and I appreciate the sentiments expressed in the above-quoted song Welcome to Our World . I just can't help but think that it is a bit flipped around. Obviously, this is not "our world" as I have been given God's world to manage. And I can only be an effective steward of it when I am truly his son or daughter in both position and practice. But that is the most obvious point and I can explain that away a bit. Perhaps more subtly this song can be seen as a misrepresentation of one of the purposes of the incarnation (enfleshment) of the Son of God. Rather than Christ coming

This may surprise some of you but I was not always the picture of masculinity you see before you today. In other words, it took a while before the powers-that-be would name hotmail.com after me. I remember well the insecurities that flooded my mind in high school and college as I wondered if the girl that I had some attraction to had the same feelings for me that I did for her. Unarticulated and unrequited attraction is one of the worst feelings in the world isn't it? The fear and trepidation I also recall as I asked this girl or that to the dance or out on a date. Thanks be to God that, more often than not, it was a "yes". I didn't get turned down too often but I didn't try to get too crazy with the requests either. I knew where I stood. I see the same dynamics at work in my children to as they ask me for this or that. There are some requests that are right on the edge of their confidence of being granted by me and they often preface the question with: "Dadd

Drew always wanted to go to the Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG) so we took him there on his birthday. We had a great time and would recommend the trip down to Corning for anyone that is interested. The boys made their own sandblasted glasses with designs that they produced on them (with stickers of all things) and the shows were very fun and informative. The boys want to go again which is a sign that they enjoyed it as well. One of the things that enhanced our experience to a great degree was the Family Audio Tour that we downloaded from the CMOG website and loaded into our MP3 players. They do have an app for the various Apple and Android tablets and smartphones, but we chose to download the audio portion and got it into the various music players we own. There was a separate adult and family tour so I chose to load all of the MP3 players up with the family one. There are certain pieces throughout the museum that have a tag with a number next to them and a symbol that denotes whether it

"First things first, but not necessarily in that order." Doctor Who, Meglos (1980) "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity One of the more important concepts or, dare I say, principles of the Christian faith is that of first and second things. God is first and all of what we see in this universe is second. A true appreciation, perception, or even love for the earth can only be found in our pursuit of God. If we pursue Him we receive this earth into our being as it was meant to be received. Something other than that will result in misunderstanding at best or idolatry at worst. I am wondering if I can press this into something that I had heard concerning marriage especially when children are involved. We have always told the boys, and others, that their mom and dad love each other more than they love them. It is hard to explain to them but I think they have at least accepted it as a reality. Obv

In the Great Divorce C.S. Lewis highlights a series of conversations between men and women that are phantoms and the Solid Ones...the ones who have embraced the cross and become what God had intended them to be all along. It is hard for me to know how phantom-like I truly am as a man and even more confusing now that I have trusted Christ for my salvation and, in so doing, have been made his servant. On one hand I am nowhere near (in practice) what He has made me to be or what He wants me to do. I just haven't gotten there yet. On the other hand, a life without Him is so foreign to me, so other-worldly, that I can scarce remember it. But I was there, thanks be to God I *was* there. So how solid am I? What mix of phantom and flesh do I have? I don't know but I do care. A great deal. I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that read "Guns don't kill people...abortion clinics do." I initially thought it was quite clever and, the more I thought about it, the less clever it be

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”... ...Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him...  John Chapter 4 What a vessel she was this  woman who had 5 (implied still living) husbands and was living immorally with another man of whom she didn't bother to marry. Yet, here is my Christ asking her for a drink and ministering to her. Her response to carry the message (albeit imperfectly) that the Messiah had come is so beautiful...she must have been in love with him. Who knows how many people put their trust in him that day but one thing is certain: they would not have come if the woman had not gone to get them. Given her reputation I am surprised anyone came. Truly God makes all things possible. Even more amazing is the fact that he chose her, even her, to serv

Strange, isn't it, this relationship I have with this world that I find myself in. All at once I feel a connection with the mountains, the water, the soil, but then there is something that snaps me out of my easiness and into a wariness that reminds me that I am not home yet. As the sticks and leaves crackle beneath my feet I hear sounds both familiar and strange...a different sort of sameness all the while. And then just a flash or a pang that rocks me both enlarging my experience and requiring me to assess, yet again, whether this world is my friend or foe. My heart yearns for this life and the one that is coming at, seemingly, the same time. I find myself taking comfort in the passage of time and marvel at its quick passage. The snow brings me both great happiness and strain. The rain that softens the soil and greens the grass drowns the flowers and rots the wood. The sun that warms the earth and lightens my hair burns my skin and bakes everything ill prepared for its exposure t

Watson, a computer with advanced linguistic and deductive abilities and plenty of horsepower developed by IBM, defeated a couple of Jeopardy champions more than a few weeks ago in a much-publicized match. Being the geek that I am I was interested in this sideshow as well as the long-term use for a machine like Watson in the "real world". I was excited to hear that it would be put to the test in the medical arena to digest symptoms of patients and to attempt to diagnose their reported ailments. The frustrating reality for a lot of patients when trying to track down what might be wrong with them is that there is usually someone, somewhere who has run into this type of thing before and could offer a good diagnosis or an effective treatment. However, as advanced as we are and as complicated a machine the body is, the knowledge can still be somewhat diffuse and hard to come by. We had a situation when Will was a young boy where he was hypoglycemic. It took the doctors here a while

I have noticed something lately. And it has taken me a while to do so. I am sure that it has more to do with my thick skull than anything but this has hit me hard lately. Our church is changing, assessing the changes, and then changing again. Nothing is in steady state and there is nothing that is not subject to scrutiny. I had a short conversation with a fellow church member and I mentioned to them that the only thing that we can expect around our church is more change. This can get exhausting at times because as flexible as I am I am not one that seeks change naturally. I would love for there to be a time in our church where things just stayed the same...just give me 6 or 8 months of "normal" and I think I'll be good. Just let me catch my breath and get my feet on the ground so that I can see where I am going. And here is the rub: this is how church must be. Everything that is not Biblically mandated is up for grabs. Everything that is not fulfilling the order to go and

In my quest to make things understandable for the HotSpot kids I teach (PreK through Kindergarten) I tackled the subject of prayer last week. It was a challenge to explain that prayer is more than getting things (even things for other people) and more of a way for us to be more like Christ. Here is what I came up with: How do we talk to God? Prayer...prayer is talking to God Isn't it great that God wants us to talk to Him? He loves you and me wants to hear from us all the time He wants us to talk to him about good things that have happened to us and bad things that have happened to us He even wants us to ask Him for things...anything... He loves to give us things and He has a goal for you and me – He wants to make you and me to be just like Jesus And that means when we pray to God and ask Him for something, well, He could give us one of three answers · Let's pretend you ask your dad if you could play with a knife...what do you think they would say? Why? Sometimes we ask

I have had the opportunity to teach 4 year olds all the way up to 74 year olds and I have determined in my heart that I am going to treat each opportunity the same. The same amount of preparation, mindshare, thought, and creativity has to be present in my teaching regardless of the audience. I have to admit that I get a little frustrated when thoughts creep into my mind that just because I am teaching so-and-so or just because the topic is such-and-such I can get away with giving it a little less than my best. I need to continually remind myself that I am subject to the same Master regardless of what I am tasked to do and that He, rightly, demands all of my energy. There is no "minor leagues" with Him - no gig that He has given me that I can mail it in on. It is all or nothing every week. Every minute. I recall a statement that was made by the lead singer of Whitecross a while back stating that he was tired of Christian musicians not seeking excellence in their art because th

I had a chance to talk about how God talks to us today to the students at Northridge Christian School (including my own) and I told them that God reveals His sovereign will to us in history. Of course I didn't quite use those words, but I did tell them that I was not sure if it was God's will for me to make it to work after the chapel service because it hadn't happened yet. After the service, as I drove to work, I thought about how awesome it was that I was continually on a journey into, and continually on the edge of, the secret things of God. Every heartbeat that I have is a revelation of God's sovereign will in my life. As he arranges the moments of my living and as they occur in rapid succession I find myself a chronicler of sorts recording my God's sovereign, overarching will for my life and in the lives of the people I come into contact with today. It is mind-blowing to think that as I drift off to sleep and even before I wake I am both a receptacle and procla

There seems to be a bit of "finality" in my spirit this morning as I heard the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan. This finality has brought me some peace, but more than that it has sobered me and saddened me a little. There is a sense of peace in my spirit that justice has been done. There is no question that what Bin Laden did was deserving of the death he died. I do vividly remember the awful attack and the feelings of sheer helplessness of 9-11. I did not lose anyone in the attacks but hearing the stories of people that did stirred up some righteous anger in me and a desire to want to see those that masterminded the attacks held to account.   I am sobered at the same time. The crimes that I have committed against my God are deserving of death as well. As much as I wanted to see justice done I am so relieved and thankful that God has not seen it fit to have a bullet put into my head so the death sentence that I deserve was carried out. Th

I have to admit that this frustrates me a bit. I would like to think that I am a better picture than the one the Bible paints of me...even in my regenerate state. But the fact of the matter is that God withholds a lot of information from me. I know nothing of the next minute of my life save that which I assume it to be based on my past experience. I would like to make plans, what I deem substantial plans, for the next year, but I do not have the information that I think that I need to do so. And I am not even that smart to boot. I do not have the mental capacity to examine the decisions and the activities that I engage in from the angles that, I think, would yield the optimal result. And to top it all off I am called to pursue wisdom, called to be a good manager, called to be holy with the insight and information that I am given. And that drives me a little crazy. But I need to rest in the fact that if I needed more information than I have to fulfill the call of God in my life I would

My current taching gig with our church has been in our Hostspot program where I am teaching pre-schoolers and kindergarteners in a really fun atmosphere. This past Sunday I took on a challenge to present the Gospel to them as clearly as I could and to remain as faitful as I could to the message. It is hard for me to really be clear at times and not use "big words" like sacrifice, atonement, or a raft of other good, Biblical words that would be over their heads. Here is what I came up with. Please comment if you think I can hone this any more to be more communicative to children of that age or more adherent to the Bible's presentation of why Christ came to this earth: ·          What do you hate? Is it a particular food? Insect? Snakes? ·          I want to tell you a story about me and you. ·          God created us. He wanted to love us and for us to love Him. ·          It is a lot like our moms and dads – they love us and want us to love them too. ·          It was gre

" He's the Fisher of Men, I'm gonna take the bait... " Irresistible Future, Phil Keaggy and Randy Stonehill When it was all said and done, when the Spirit Himself showed me how guilty I was and how awful my sin had been, it was as if someone offered me a cool cup of water to drink. My life was on fire when the sweet bait of the Fisherman Himself was dangled in front of me. I was snared and my life became a slavery to a God that loves me rather than the one that sought my destruction. All that I thought I would miss, everything that I knew I needed to renounce pales in comparison to what I have now. The removal of the penalty for my sin (separation from God forever in Hell) by the work that was performed on the cross that day has given me a life filled with hope and blessings that, literally, cannot be counted. Who would have known that embracing Him would lead to such sweet service? Who would have known that the sin that I constantly knew would have lead me to my deat

"...there is a clue, a clue to meaning in life, and that clue comes in relationships." - Ravi Zacharias "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." - St. Augustine I was listening to a Let My People Think podcast from Ravi Zacharias the other day and the quote from him that precedes Augustine's in this post almost staggered me in its implications. So simple, yet volumes could be written on it. Can we ignore the fact that our relationships in our lives are where we rest much of who we are? Can I divorce my theological or philosophical musings from the fact that I am a husband, father, son, uncle, employee or from the myriad of other ways I relate to the people in my life? Can I simply and dipassoinately apply my intellect to the world around me and give no thought to fact that I am His and, wonder of wonders, He is mine? I love Augutine's quote as well (used by Zacharias to underscore his point). I

I don't struggle with the concept of mercy as much as I should. I am usually on the side of presuming that God or anyone else is going to be merciful to me. That makes me cheapen both grace and mercy quite a bit I think. I have moments where I feel the gravity of my sin and the fact that God is merciful to me (let alone graceful) overwhelms me. Yet, these realizations are fewer and farther between than I would like them to be. I often whine and cry over even the natural consequences of my decisions let alone any hand of discipline that God lay a hold of me with. I am oriented that way and need to submit that orientation to the loving care of the Spirit. This is so much different than my oldest son. He pulled a doozy the other day and my wife and I could not characterize it as willful disobedience. It was more carelessness than anything and a result of him just being a kid. But the situation could have resulted in something extremely serious if not for God's mercy and grace. My

I appreciate the sentiment of the poem (story, parable, lesson) Footprints in the Sand. I just have to say that if ever look back on my life and see more than one set of footprints in the sand, or if the footprints in the sand are of anyone's other than God's, I will consider myself nothing less than a stupid fool.

This post may have broad application or it may not hold water. That will be my only qualifying statement. I was in a conversation recently that sent my mind whirling about change and why I am often not as comfortable with it as I should be. I need to be comfortable with change because it happens to me every single day. Areas of stability are an illusion and the normal is a veneer...change is my lot this side of heaven and may continue to be in eternity. We have undergone massive changes as a church body especially in the past 5 years. We have not undergone changes for the sake of change, we have changed to do what God wants us to do: to make more and better disciples of Christ. Some of these changes have been easy for me to take. Some have sent me to shake up the ministries that I am involved in. None of them have been perfectly implemented, but all of them have the end goal in mind. So, why when there is "another change" there do I say (in my mind anyway), "Again...?&qu

  I thought of posting something humorous (if only to me) in my status this morning about me being a dork (nerd, geek, doofus, etc.) in high school and the freedom that afforded me to not have old flames chasing me down and saying "So...how you doin'?". But, the more I thought about it, the more thankful I became that I am not in that situation. I was never "in" with the ladies back then and it wasn't until college that I had any semblance of a serious relationship with a member of the opposite sex (yes, female, for those of you who are as sarcastic as I am). For me that was a good thing even though, at the time, it was more than a tad painful. Of course I did not have this perspective in the midst of my mate-lessness and always had to scramble to find someone to go to the semi-formal or prom with, but now all of that has faded into a great deal of freedom. I am not so naive to think that every high school or college relationship that has ever existed is re-